The story begins in April 1996 in a small house in Guadalajara, Mexico, where 3 sisters of the Order of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Joseph cared for over 30 children, including newborn babies and infants. Some of the babies were without any known families, other babies were abandoned due to extreme poverty and other unforeseen circumstances that would force a parent to give up a child.  In August 2002, an anonymous patron built two casitas (small houses) on a piece of rural land near the small village of San Pedro Tesistan – about forty-five miles from Guadalajara on the south shore of Lake Chapala. Two sisters and 21 school age children and toddlers relocated to their new home on that land. One sister and the babies remained in the Guadalajara home. We currently have 22 children, aged 2-10, in our San Pedro orphanage and 11 babies in our Guadalajara home. As soon as the babies in Guadalajara are able to walk, they are transferred to San Pedro and within hours, new babies are brought in to take their place. Other school-age children and toddlers are brought directly to Villa Infantil from the Department of Social Services. Eight of the children were adopted in 2007 and we anticipate 5 to 10 new arrivals during 2008.

                                                                                                                                                  For Donation Information, please contact Ricks e-mail - lakechapalakids@yahoo.com